Monday, September 7, 2009
CANBERRA DARTERS END SEASON ON A HIGH
By David Packwood - Media Manager
The Canberra Darters have ended their Australian Netball League campaign with a thrilling 47-46 upset win over the NSW Waratahs.
In order to make the finals the Waratahs needed South Australia to lose to the Australian Institute of Sport in Hobart and then beat the Darters themselves.
The first happened with the AIS beating South Australia 47-42 and the Waratahs looked in control of the game with Canberra opening up an eight goal lead early in the second quarter.
The Darters might not have been a finals chance, but they did want to finish on a high and stormed back into the contest thanks to the dominance of goal shooter Jo Pivac. She finished with 45-of-54 for the game including the last two goals of the game to see Canberra win a thriller by one goal.
In the end, the Waratahs finished on 12 points, but with 0.9 less percentage to narrowly miss a top-four spot.
The Waratahs came out hungry in the first quarter. Thanks to Bell they raced to 3-0 lead and controlled the rest of the period to lead 17-10 by its end. Pivac scored all of Canberra`s goals in the opening quarter and continued to dominate in the second to bring her team back within two. However, the Waratahs steadied to lead 23-18, but Pivac kept Canberra in it with 12 more goals in the second quarter as NSW led 26-23 at half-time.
By the second half, NSW knew that a win would take it into the finals with South Australia going down to the AIS in Hobart, but Pivac proved one obstacle too tough to handle.
The Darters` goal shooter again scored 14-of-14 in the third quarter and helped her team to a lead for the first time. After trailing by as much as eight, Canberra stormed back thanks to Pivac and took a 31-30 lead.
The Waratahs` attackers of Bell and Cain could only managed nine goals for the quarter, while Canberra scored 15 to lead 38-35 at the last change.
NSW quickly got back into the contest to even the scores in the last quarter to set up a frantic finish.
Things were evenly poised at 45-all when the Darters` Alex Mecham took a heavy fall with just under two minutes remaining. She was right to continue and the Waratahs took the lead straight after through Bell.
Pivac had the final say, though, with two goals in the final minute including the match-winner right before the final whistle.
Statistics: Jo Pivac 45/54, Alison Rigney 2/6
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